Oil Spec

[edition]

Hi,

I'm wanting to do an oil change on a Ford that uses 5-30w fully synthetic and I have some Castrol Edge that I thought was suitable. Only issue is that it is BMW spec and doesn't mention Ford.

Is this just the same oil but not tested or labelled for Ford?

Any help would be great :-)

[Ozzie Osmond]

It's perhaps not "identical" but seriously, it's very good quality oil of the right "weight". Do you think your engine will notice the difference? I very much doubt it.

[steveo3002]

does the ford not state the spec required

i noticed the same the other day ecp lists 5/30 in ford and gm flavour

[edition]

Any more views on this?

[edition]

Anyone?

[Matt UK]

I'd use it.

[Council Scum]

I'd use it.

So long as the weight is the same then that’s all that matters (and even then it may not be crucial as weights can vary by region), the specification just refers to the particulars of certain qualities which will have no detrimental effect in the real world.

[heners54]

I've got a 1L bottle of Castrol Magnatec 5-30w and it states some ford blah on the front (don't own one so no idea what the spec codes are), as Edge is a higher spec oil IIRC the surely its good to use?

[randy]

There is quite a lot to it, you need to be a chemist to understand thoroughly. Ideally, I would use an oil that means the specs the manufacturer dictates in their handbook. Only a small handful of manufacturers have their own spec, so if you have a ford you don't necessarily need the spec to read ford. Its often the case these days that manufacturers add certain things in their oil to get their particular engines through longevity tests so there are risks to using oils that don't comply with the spec. There are also a variety of emissions considerations, how the CATS deal with the oil etc. Its a minefield!

[V8RX7]

I've been playing with performance cars for 20+yrs and technically I'm sure there is a small difference.

However bearing in mind some people don't change the oil for 60k+ I'm sure that using a slightly different spec is less harmful.

So I'd use it.

I bought cases of the Halfords oil that was on offer IIRC it was GM spec - I've been putting it in all the cars for years without issue - none are GM.

[Ozzie Osmond]

I think I must own an Esso petrol station by now, judging by the amount I've spent on Mobil 1 over the years!

On the positive side my engine repair bills are virtually non-existent.